Eternal
by Shellysbees
Summary: While traveling through space Martha and the Doctor find themselves pulled through a rift into an alternate universe. This is a gift for the lovely DevoKitsune on tumblr who asked for The Doctor to meet Hermione. 3 She's the best


"Please tell me we aren't crashing!"

Martha's voice filtered through the hall as she stumbled out into the console room which was now lit by a flashing green light. The Doctor popped out from around the panel, grinning as he hit a set of switches that changed the flashing lights from green to purple.

"We're not crashing," he stated, completely relaxed despite the fact that something was obviously wrong.

"Doctor!" Martha warned, making her way up the stairs carefully as the T.A.R.D.I.S. heaved back and forth. "Why did that light just change?!"

He finally stopped, nodding his head from side to side and shrugging. "Well… We might be crashing, but just a little. Not to worry, I've got it covered."

"How exactly are we crashing just a little?" Martha asked, chasing The Doctor around the center panel as he began working the switches and gizmos there seemingly at random.

"We seem to be caught in a bit of a rift. Kinda like a black hole, but not.. and we really don't want to get pulled in."

"What happens if we get pulled in?"

The Doctor froze, his hand on a large lever at the top of the console as he turned to face Martha, the playful smile completely gone.

"I don't know... Hold on."

Martha had barely managed to grab hold of the side rail before he yanked down the lever, stepping back to hold tight as well. The T.A.R.D.I.S. lurched forward and the engines let out a low whine. When the heart of his T.A.R.D.I.S. began to dim The Doctor dove forward, catching a hold of the edge of the panel.

"No, no, no. Come on 'old girl!" He muttered under his breath as he frantically spun a few knobs before carefully moving around to wiggle the zigzag plotter. "COME ON!"

With one last shuddering groan the T.A.R.D.I.S. suddenly came to a grinding halt. Both Martha and The Doctor, who had fallen to the floor with the sudden stop, stood to their feet, looking around curiously.

"Doctor…" Martha started carefully, looking around the console room as she clambered to her feet. "Did it work?"

"I don't know," he said softly, his eyes flicking over the computer screen quickly. After a moment he raced around the console to the second monitor, his brows furrowing in worry.

"Impossible." He breathed softly, the worry quickly fading. He raced back over to Martha, gripping her by the shoulders, his eyes alight with excitement. "Martha! This is impossible!"

"Sorry. Wh-Are we going to live then?" Martha asked, unimpressed.

The Doctor strode away shaking his head at her. "Oh you just wait. You're going to love this."

Setting in a coordinate The Doctor pulled down the lever, sending them flying through space once more. By the time they finally landed Martha had worked herself into quite a tiff, but The Doctor simply smiled, not paying much notice to her.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?!" Martha exclaimed, her hands perched on her hips as she glared at him. "Or am I just expected to follow after you?"

"It's a surprise," he said as the T.A.R.D.I.S. came to a halt and he hurried towards the doors. "I promise, you'll love this."

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she conceded. "I better."

The first thing they saw when they stepped out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. was a tall, lopsided cottage. The Doctor raced ahead, calling back behind him for Martha to follow. She was busy staring in awe.

It didn't seem as though the building were structurally sound, not in the least, and she couldn't quite put a finger on where but she knew that she'd seen it somewhere.

"Doctor," She started, following him through the dry field towards the building. "Where are-"

"Shhh."

She cut him a glare but was quiet all the same as they snuck up to a side window. The window led into a kitchen of sorts, but everything seemed odd, almost fantastical. Martha was almost certain she had seen a pair of needles knitting a scarf in mid air.

"Where are we?" Martha hissed again, almost afraid to believe what she was seeing, but before The Doctor could answer a small voice coughed from behind them.

They both whirled around quickly, coming face to face with a young, rather familiar looking, brown haired woman looking rather cross with a wand pointed directly at them

"Excuse me," she said irritably. "But what are you doing?"

"No!" Martha gasped, looking absolutely astonished.

He shushed her again before looking back to Hermione and offering her a hand.

"My name is The Doctor, and you're Hermione Granger, yes?"

"Who are you?" She asked cautiously, her wand still pointed towards the both of them. She looked down at his hand but did not return the gesture

"I just told you. I'm The Doctor, and this is Martha Jones."

Hermione's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she looked the two them over, lowering her wand slightly. "How did you get in here? This land is supposed to be protected."

"Landed here," The Doctor explained, pointing towards the police box out in the field behind her and shrugging nonchalantly. "That would be my T.A.R.D.I.S., protection spells don't quite work on it."

"What kind of magic is that?" Hermione asked, sidestepping so she could look towards the T.A.R.D.I.S. while keeping her wand pointed towards Martha and The Doctor.

"None ," He said proudly, rocking on the balls of his feet. "Want to see?"

"Inside your phonebooth? No, not really. And you're lying. Who are you and how did you get that here."

"Is that really.. Is this all real?" Martha managed, finally finding her voice.

"Yes," The Doctor muttered quickly, "alternate universe." He looked to Hermione who was still pointing her wand at him expectantly.

"Oh right. Yes, my name really is The Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. That," he pointed toward the T.A.R.D.I.S., "is my spaceship. We weren't exactly supposed to land here, but when I realized where we'd ended up I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet you. You have no idea how big of a fan I am."

Hermione swallowed thickly, her wand lowering once again. "You're lying. Leave. Now." Her voice was short, emotion peeking through.

"Please." The Doctor said earnestly, stepping forward and holding a hand out to her once again, "You're a muggle born witch, you have to believe there are things in this universe you don't know about even now."

Hermione hesitated, curiosity dancing in her eyes as she looked toward the front door.

"It's a time machine. I can have you back exactly the same moment as when we left."

"Why would I come with you?" Her voice was smaller than before.

"Because I can take you wherever you want."

"Anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Anytime."

She was quiet for a moment, her gaze shifting from the blue box off in the distance, to the odd man in the suit, to the place she'd learned to call home.

"I swear if you're lying to me I will curse you." She said simply starting towards the T.A.R.D.I.S.

The Doctor and Martha shared an excited look as they trailed after her.

"Okay. How is this real?" Martha asked as they walked through the tall yellow grass towards the T.A.R.D.I.S.

"We didn't escape from the rift." The Doctor said simply, looking utterly pleased with himself. Basically, the theory is that every choice you make results in a separate universe being formed, which is why it's very dangerous to travel between universe's. The tear we were pulled through was small, but we should be able to slid back through into our universe and collapse it from the other side."

"And in this Universe Harry Potter is real?"

Hermione stopped turning to face the both of them.

"You're not from earth?"

"Well… I did tell you I'm a Time Lord," He teased, smiling back at Hermione as he shoved his hands deep in his pockets, rocking back on the heels of his trainers.

"She's from Earth though," he added, jerking his head towards Martha. "Well not your earth, but an earth."

"So a different reality… Like the theory of the multiverse?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed, continuing towards the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Exactly like that. We were on our way to Earth, our Earth, when we hit a rift-"

"Like a black hole?" Hermione interrupted, quickly falling into step with The Doctor.

"Yes and no," he said, "a black hole only interrupts space. This rift interrupted everything all at once. Time, space, and reality. It's like a tunnel from one place to another, in this case from our reality to yours."

"That's amazing." She murmured, looking at the T.A.R.D.I.S. in awe now. "And I'm there too? In your world?"

"Not exactly." The Doctor rounded on the two of them just in front of the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Our world is very different from yours… but we know of you."

Her eyes narrowed, obviously dissecting that statement. Finally she let out a shuddering breath, her arms going limp at her side in resignation.

"Did he win?"

"Did who- Oh.. OH!" The Doctor actually looked shocked at her assumption. "No, no nothing like that. I mean you aren't there, because you were never there, not because you died or anything. But you were there obviously in a different way. It's a teensy bit complicated."

He looked to Martha, as if asking for a good way to say 'you're just a character in our world', before shaking his head and turning. Opening the double doors he stood to the side, ushering them both in.

"Welcome to the T.A.R.D.I.S."

"T.A.R.D.I.S.?" She murmured, running her hand along the railing as she looked around.

"Yup. Time and Relative Dimension in Space." He stated proudly.

She was quiet for a few moments before turning to face them. "I thought you said it wasn't magic."

"Ohhh… She still doesn't believe you," Martha teased. "Perhaps…" Her voice trailed off as the two of them shared a knowing look.

"You think?" he asked, his eyes cutting to a rather bemused Hermione for a moment.

Martha looked between the two of them before nodding. "Yeah. I think."

"Allons-Y then!" The Doctor exclaimed, whirling around the console, putting it into motion.

"Wait!" Hermione gasped, looking between the two of them in confusion. "Where are we going?"

The Doctor simply flashed her a grin from behind console before pulling the lever down, sending the engines running.

"Don't worry." Martha said, sliding up next to a stunned Hermione. "He's just showing off. It's exciting, meeting you I mean."

"I don't understand." Hermione said, looking at Martha incredulously. "If I don't exist in your universe then how do you-"

"Martha." The Doctor interrupted. "Library."

"Oh you are clever sometimes aren't you?" she chided, hurrying down the steps towards the library just as the engines leveled out, everything falling quiet once again.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Not at the Burrow I'm assuming," she retorted.

"Quite right. Come on."

He held out a hand to her, smiling fondly. Of course, he'd known that this was possible. Constantly diverging universe meant that just about anything was possible, but he'd never imagined anything like this actually happening, that he'd actually be surprised by something that would happen.

After a moments hesitation she placed her hand in his, allowing him to pull her down the ramp. The doors swung open as the approached them, revealing the whole of space. "Still believe it's magic?" He asked, looking rather chuffed.

She didn't answer, walking to the edge to look out. Tentatively she reached out past the edge of the door, as if looking for a screen or explanation. Finally she let out a laugh, shaking her head. "This has to be magic. How-"

"Science." He stated simply, staring out into the both familiar, yet unfamiliar space. "It's not all that different I suppose when it comes down to it."

"It's fantastic." She breathed, enthralled by the sight.

Martha returned moments later with a stack of books in her arms, but paused when she saw the young woman staring in awe out into space. Suddenly, the reality of it all hit her. This was not a character in a story. This was a real girl, who had honestly faced everything in those books. Setting them aside Martha joined them. In all her time with The Doctor they hardly seemed to stop and simply enjoy.

"Beautiful isn't it?" She asked, looking over at Hermione, who nodded, offering her a small smile before turning back to the expanse of space.

They stayed like that for a while, the T.A.R.D.I.S. floating gently through space, and them simply watching it move around them. When Hermione let out a soft sigh The Doctor turned to her, his head cocked to the side.

"So, Hermione Jean Granger, where and when would you like to go?"

She looked back out at the stars, uncertainty sneaking in. "Anywhere?"

"Of course."

She nodded shortly, seemingly making up her mind before turning towards him, her expression set. "Present day Australia."

Worry flashed across The Doctor's features

"Are you certain?"

She nodded, "Yeah I'm sure. I mean… My parents are there, I just want to see them. I don't know where in Australia, but they'll be there."

"Not to worry." he assured her, the doors closing on their own accord as he turned away. "It'll take me just a moment to locate them."

The Doctor hurried back to a monitor, keying in a few commands silence falling around them once more. A small ding told them he'd found what they were looking for.

"I assume I don't need to preach about the dangers of time travel." he said, as he set in the coordinates. "You should be landing more or less in present day, but given your history with them, it could still prove to be difficult."

"I know." She muttered, letting out a heavy breath. "They can't know who I am or why I'm here. If they see me at all I should keep contact to a minimum."

He nodded.

"You can always choose something else." Martha offered, but she shook her head, starting for the door the moment they landed.

"I'll be fine. I've wanted to do this for a long time."

"After you then." he murmured, following her down and out onto a quiet suburban street. "Number 72." He stated, pointing to a small townhouse just a few down from where they were.

When she had left four years before she'd turned on that life. She'd let her parents go, free from burden, while she had gone to fight an untold evil, and survived. That was the kicker of course. She hadn't expected that. Not really.

Once Voldemort decided to kill you, he didn't stop until you were dead. She was a muggle born, a mudblood, and a traitor to the ministry at the time. She'd never dreamt she'd come to regret the decision she'd made that day

Slowly she walked forward until she was standing at the front of their walk, desperately trying to think of anything to say to them, any excuse to ring their doorbell. She didn't even realize there were silent tears running down her cheeks until an arm was wrapped over her shoulders.

"I was just trying to save them." She muttered between soft sobs, leaning against The Doctor for support. "I can't… There's no reversal spell. I can't get them back."

Just then the front door opened, revealing a petite woman with a toddler on her hip, looking oddly perplexed. She had no idea who these three people were or why they were standing in front of her yard.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"I think we're alright." Martha said, after a moment of hushed silence from all three of them. "Just looking at her childhood home is all.

Hermione's mother narrowed her eyes slightly but accepted the story, closing the door behind herself as she went back inside.

"Doctor, we should go." Martha said, gently rubbing at Hermione's shoulder as she gazed unseeingly at the house. There was no familiarity in it of course. She'd never lived here, but it was comforting, in a closure sort of way, to see where they'd been safe for all these years.

"Yeah." He said softly, gently guiding Hermione back towards the Tardis. "Let's get you home."

Hermione allowed herself to be led back, almost blindly. The guilt and pain she'd felt since she'd done that had left, leaving an aching hole in it's place. She'd allowed her parents to live a life free of danger, with a chance to have a normal, non-magic, child. It left her with a family that would never remember her.

"What are those?" Hermione finally asked, sight of the stack of books Martha had left on the floor, as the engines swirled back into action. The Doctor paused, slowly stepping towards the pair of them.

"I said you didn't die in our world." He picked up the first book, opening it so she could read the inside panel. "My guess is J.K. Rowling either originally came from this universe or is some how mentally linked with it, but in our Universe, you're part of a story. A brilliant story, but a story nonetheless."

She was silent as she read over the synopsis, her fingers running over the worn pages absently.

"So everything we went through, it means nothing in your world?" She asked softly, looking back up at him with pain in her eyes.

"No, no, no." He exclaimed, taking the book from her hands and flipping through the pages of his worn copy. He'd picked it up a few generations back and read it too many times to count. "You're smart. You know how books affect people. These books are one of the most beloved stories of its generation. It is known and loved by children and adults alike." Leaving the book on the console he cupped her face gently with his hands, his eyes darting back over her features, looking for recognition as to what he was saying. "In our world, you never lived, but you will also never die. In our world, Hermione Jean Granger, you are eternal."


End file.
